Who is this Jamin guy anyway?
I am the husband of one and the father of nine. I was created to sing, to worship, to encourage, and to be steady. I am the Owner & Executive Director of Trinity Arts Center, a multi-disciplinary Arts Center in Eastern Tennessee, and the President of Trinity Arts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization focused on funding arts education and performance. I've been involved with four music projects in my life -- Hot Pink Turtle, Spin Radio, Stand Like Stone, and of course, Jamin Rathbun.

In 2013, I added my Twitter feed to this site (below). To view the old content, just scroll down past the Twitter timeline. To keep in the loop on new posts, thoughts, and updates, just follow me on Twitter using the button below. Thanks!

John 3:16-17For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him.

I know I've referenced this passage before but -- I was really feeling it again today. I hear people all the time talking about how the church is judgemental, and the church doesn't make them feel comfortable, and the church looks at them with some kind of condemnation in their eyes. You know what? Out of all the churches I've seen (and there have been a lot), there have only been a couple with even a hint of that. Sure, I've grown up in the church and I'd definitely consider myself to be an "insider." However, I've walked into hundreds of churches with my long hair, my untucked shirt, my sandals, and even (sometimes) my shorts (yikes!) and -- felt right at home.

My point being that most people at church go out of their way to make you feel comfortable. Sure there are some that are not very outgoing. Sure there are some that won't know how to relate to you. Yes there are a few churches out there that have lost sight of the big picture but -- no more than in any other setting.

You know what I think? If you're feeling condemned. If you're feeling unwelcome. If you're feeling judged... I'd bet that 9 times out of 10, it's not the church that's making you feel that way... It's the guilt and condemnation you feel as a result of sin.

Sin is a funny thing. Not a "ha ha" funny thing but -- just a hard thing to really understand. I was talking a bit with my son last week about sexual sin and we we're discussing that passage in Corinthians where Paul gives a special designation to sexual sin...

1 Corinthians 6:18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

I'm not sure what that means. I don't know what the difference is between an "outside" sin and a "sin against my own body." All that I know is that there is a special consequence for that type of sin. There's something that will happen as a result. There is something that I'll miss out on. Acting in that way will result in something less than what God intended. Sin is bad, especially sexual sin.

Anyway... I didn't mean to get sidetracked again by sex (Can you tell I have a boy that is hitting puberty?). = ) I'm jumping around from salvation to judgemental churches to sin to sex... All I'm trying to say is this:

Sin is death. Sin is confinement. Sin is a lie. Sin is guilt. Jesus is life. Jesus is freedom. Jesus is truth. Jesus is peace.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but -- to save it through him.